Denver, CO
Denver Broncos pass rush is abysmally bad and a huge roster weakness
The Denver Broncos do not have a good pass rush. In fact, the unit is bad and is a clear need for the team in the offseason and into the 2024 NFL Draft. Honestly, the only good thing about the EDGE group for Denver is their youth. The Broncos had two veteran players in this unit earlier in the season.
Randy Gregory and Frank Clark both brought a ton of experience to this room, and it’s clear that the Broncos were counting on both players. However, in a matter of weeks, both Gregory and Clark were off the team, paving the way for the young trio of Baron Browning, Jonathon Cooper, and Nik Bonitto.
The trio has been decent at times, and their numbers on paper don’t look too shabby. Cooper has 8.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, and 13 QB hits in 2023. Nik Bonitto has 7.0 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, and 18 QB hits this year. Browning has 3.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and eight QB hits this year.
They seem to be a strong unit, right? Wrong:
Anyway here are the 10 lowest pass rush win rates among NFL Edge rotations.
Giants – 10.4% (wtf)
Rams – 15.0% (surprising)
Seahawks/Pats – 16.4%
Broncos – 18.1%
Bears – 18.4%
Falcons – 19.2%
Panthers – 19.4%
Commies – 19.7%
Bucs – 20.1%
Chiefs – 21.0%Browns are highest at 44%
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) January 4, 2024
In terms of just the edge group, the Broncos rank as having the 4th-lowest win rate among all NFL teams this year. According to ESPN’s numbers, the Broncos also have the 4th-lowest win rate in the NFL. ESPN defines theirs as a Pass Rush Win Rate, so I would assume this includes interior defensive players and not just edge players.
The tweet above is only for the edge group. No matter how you slice it, the Denver Broncos pass rush is again among the worst in football. I think a giant misconception that some Broncos fans have is that they think the respectable sack totals from Cooper and Bonitto, and their overall youth means that they are a good unit.
And that just is not the case. Denver’s pass rush is virtually non-existent, and their sack totals this year of 39 rank as the 22nd-most in the NFL. I don’t think there is a single redeeming quality of this unit besides their youth. I’m not saying that the unit can’t get better in 2023, but Sean Payton needs to add multiple players to this unit. If Payton is wanting to double-down in free agency again, he could chase a top free agent like Danielle Hunter.
The team could also draft an edge rusher with their first-round pick in 2024, or perhaps acquire a second-round pick somehow and use that to help the pass rush. If the Broncos’ QB spot was solidified, the pass rush would be the most urgent need for this team. General Manager George Paton is the one responsible for this mess.
The pass rush has gotten worse each year of his tenure with the Broncos, and that could be one of many reasons why he is out of a job at the end of the season.
3 potential landing spots for Russell Wilson in 2024. dark. Next. 3 potential landing spots for Russell Wilson in 2024
DENVER — It was another record-breaking day in Denver Tuesday as the high temperature topped 80 degrees, crushing the previous record of 76 degrees set in 1896. It’s going to be even hotter Wednesday!
As this ridge of high pressure moves closer into Colorado, temperatures will climb about 30 degrees above normal. It’ll be the hottest day of the week with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s across the plains.
Denver will easily break the current record of 75 degrees, set in 2012. And the city could even challenge its all-time March record high of 86 degrees on Wednesday. It will likely be the fifth record breaking day of the month so far.
Gusty winds, hot temperatures and low humidity values will lead to high fire danger in south central Colorado Wednesday. A Fire Weather Watch and Red Flag Warning are posted for much of that area.
Temperatures will cool a bit on Thursday as a cold front moves into the state bringing a slight chance of showers, mainly to the mountains. Highs will still stay in the upper 70s to low 80s, with some gusty winds around the Denver metro.
Cooler air will settle in behind the front on Friday. Temperatures will dip into the 50s. It seems chilly compared to what we’ve seen, but it’s very seasonal for late March. Enjoy the brief break from the heat while it’s here. Warmer air and possibly more record-breaking heat return just in time for the weekend.
More record breaking temperatures across the Denver metro area
DENVER WEATHER LINKS: Hourly forecast | Radars | Traffic | Weather Page | 24/7 Weather Stream
Click here to watch the Denver7 live weather stream.
Denver, CO
Keeler: Why did 2026 Broncos trade for Jaylen Waddle? Because they learned a lesson from 2025 Chiefs
Even Snakes roll snake eyes. As a Broncos quarterback, Jake Plummer went 3-3 in one-score games during the 2004 regular season. In 2005, Jake The Snake improved to 5-2 in those tilts. Plummer followed that up with a 3-5 record in one-score games during 2006.
Down. Up. Down. Close wins in the NFL, year-to-year, are about as consistently reliable as New Jersey Transit.
“You can’t coach clutch,” Plummer texted me Tuesday. “It’s either in your blood, or it isn’t.”
The Bo-lief is strong enough in Broncos Country right now to bench press a F-450 Super Duty. Bo Nix is 24-10 as a Broncos QB1 in regular-season tussles, 25-11 overall. He’s 13-8 in games decided by eight points or fewer as an NFL starter, and went 12-2 last fall.
The Broncos put up a mark of 11-2 in one-score games in 2025, tying an NFL record for one-score victories (11) in a season. Nix replaced Patrick Mahomes as the NFL’s Comeback King. Before the madness of Sean Payton’s fourth-down call in the AFC Championship, Denver had a method.
“The ones that have it, you can see it in their eyes,” Plummer continued. “It permeates the whole situation and something akin to faith!”
Faith is contagious.
Fortune is fickle.
Why did Denver trade for Jaylen Waddle?
Why are fans clamoring for another hammer at tailback to pair with J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey?
Why do they want more speed at inside linebacker, someone who can run with tight ends up the seam?
Because history doesn’t say 11 one-score victories is hard to repeat.
History says it’s nearly impossible.
Over the last five decades, only five NFL teams have won 10 or more one-score games in a season — the Broncos became the newest member of that club last December.
But get a load of how those other four teams fared the very next year:
• 2024 Chiefs: 11 one-score wins, 15 wins overall. The following fall? A record of 1-9 in one-score games, six wins overall.
• 2022 Vikings: 11 one-score wins, 13 wins overall. The following fall? A record of 6-8 in one-score games, seven wins overall.
• 2019 Seahawks: 10 one-score wins, 11 wins overall. The following fall? A record of 8-3 in one-score games, 12 wins overall.
• 1978 Oilers: 10 one-score wins, 10 wins overall. The following fall? A record of 6-3 in one-score games, 11-5 overall.
Summing up? Two of the four teams that’d racked up double-digit close wins regressed badly, while the other two improved slightly.
But none of them won more than eight games by eight points or less the following season.
In fact, their combined winning percentage in one-score games that next year was 45.6% (21-25). And the average relapse was a 3.25-win falloff compared to the prior season.
With a tougher schedule, a new offensive coordinator and the usual spate of wacky, unpredictable NFL gremlins lurking, would it shock you if the Broncos finished 11-6? Or 12-5? In this division, you’d take either one of those records in a so-called “regression” year. Take it and run with it.
The Broncos’ floor is as high as it’s been since Sheriff Manning hung up his spurs. The ceiling is fluid. You swap draft picks for a proven, win-now talent such as Waddle because the football gods are going to demand that you make your own luck from here on out.
“Each season is different,” Plummer said. “When there is unfettered belief in each other, it’s contagious and those wins can happen naturally. On the contrary, when there is unrealistic expectations from the outside, pressure to perform can impede the natural flow of what’s happening on the field. That’s why believing is paramount to achieving!”
While the Snake’s Dove Valley chapter was coming to a close, the New Orleans Saints won four games by eight points or less in 2006, en route to a 10-6 mark.
The Saints were 2-3 in those close contests the next season and slipped to 7-9 overall. The year after that? A 3-6 record in one-score games and an 8-8 mark overall. Payton knows. And if he doesn’t, he’s sure as heck about to find out.
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Two more days of record-breaking heat are forecast for northern Colorado this week, including in the Denver area, according to the National Weather Service.
Earlier forecasts from the weather service projected 90-degree temperatures in Denver on Wednesday, which would have marked the city’s first of the year and earliest on record. The expected temperature high has since dropped to 88 degrees, which would still break daily and monthly heat records, according to the weather service.
NWS Tuesday forecasts:
- 64 degrees in Dillion, breaking the 63-degree record for March 24.
- 75 degrees in Evergreen, breaking the 71-degree daily record.
- 81 degrees in Denver, breaking the 76-degree daily record.
- 83 degrees at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, breaking the 76-degree daily record.
- 83 degrees in Boulder, breaking the 76-degree daily record.
- 84 degrees at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, breaking the 80-degree daily record.
NWS Wednesday forecasts:
- 69 degrees in Dillion, breaking the 62-degree record for March 24.
- 80 degrees in Evergreen, breaking the 75-degree daily record.
- 88 degrees in Denver, breaking the 75-degree daily record and the 86-degree March heat record. Denver has broken or tied the March heat record three times so far this month, according to the weather service.
- 89 degrees at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, breaking the 76-degree daily record.
- 87 degrees in Boulder, breaking the 78-degree daily record.
- 89 degrees at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, breaking the 79-degree daily record.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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